Know Your Cheaters Scam
It is good for seniors to be aware of various scammers and scam attempts in their everyday life. Usually the background of the scam is the desire to get money from the elderly by appealing to the person’s desire to help, benevolence, closeness or longing for love. A scammer may approach you with an incredible profit, telling you about a very affordable offer, for example, the need for help with a large money transfer. Behind the door or on the phone, the scammer may pretend to be an authority, claiming to respect the person’s authority. The person may be approached by calling, e-mail, text message, via social media, by letter or traditionally by knocking on the door. There have always been scammers, the channels used to cheat and the ways to cheat have changed.
Fake cops and old people
Fraudsters take advantage of strong trust in the authorities, pretending to be the police, especially for the elderly, when calling or visiting the door. Fraudsters try to arouse concern in their victim by telling about the threat of a crime that targets the person. Next, the scammers urgently demand their victim to hand over, for example, their online login credentials or bank card information. Similar scams may be attempted by pretending to be other authorities or bank employees. Damages from a successful scam can become large once the victim’s bank accounts have been emptied.
So never hand over your online banking credentials or bank card to another person, even if you are pressured or told to! Authorities or banks do not ask for this information by phone or email. They also don’t ask or need to physically take your bank card. Do not store online banking credentials or bank card credentials near the computer or in the same place. Also, don’t let strangers into your apartment. Scammers can be very carefully dressed. You can always recognize a police officer by his official uniform and a civilian police officer by his badge!
The number of scams described above has increased. If you are asked for bank information over the phone, report the inquiry quickly to 112. You may receive a letter in your e-mail promising profits without participation or a small compensation, a reward for money transfers through your account for a small fee, a request for help to buy a plane ticket, for example, information about a surprising inheritance or the like. What all of these have in common is the desire to make the victim pay the scammer under some pretext.
Internet darlings also strive for the same, the same sacrifice, money. Love scammers ask for money to get to their loved ones. This may have been preceded by a long introduction, conversation and hooking the victim, but in the end the loved one asks for money to get to the victim. It is good to note that you do not need or should respond to these letters, lottery winning messages or love wishes. You will hardly win the lottery without having participated in the lottery or otherwise received free money or a significant advantage. Caution and finding out the facts is always important, especially with internet sweethearts. Never send money to an unknown person!
Intrusive sellers and offers
You may receive an offer in the form of an invoice by mail, or a salesperson sitting in your home who enthusiastically and emphatically sells some service or something similar. The service may be sold to you at a hefty premium. Always find out the basis of the offer in the form of an invoice before you pay. If you receive an emphatic offer for, for example, a roof or kitchen renovation, think about whether you really need a renovation. If you need, tender the renovation. Also, be careful if you order an automatically renewing subscription by mail. Make sure that the order can be easily canceled if necessary.
